Just because someone lists something doesn’t determine its value. If it sold for 20 a few days ago chances are another will pop up around there soon. Keep calm my friend
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Seller in general who double the price of sold listing. This is same thing applied to ygo that I’m also collecting.
Thanks for the insight guys, I hope no1 got the impression that I was mad about the prices going up. I may have been too late to get the more higher end cards but that doesn’t mean I want everything to suddenly dip in price. I hope everything continues to grow for the hobbies sake, I’ll just get what I can afford and be happy. But it would be nice if things slowed down a bit. On the bright side at least the cards I have increased in value too.
Life is tough enough than to be affected by what a complete stranger lists something at that you’re not going to buy from him. Don’t be affected negatively by something you have no connection with. This is a lesson many have learned the hard way;)
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Here are my thoughts from the examples you listed.
Neo series: not going down, to some people these sets are pinnacle of whole hobby and can’t blame them, Johto region was so welcome sight after Kanto.
Gold stars: at one point everyone was chasing them but then demand went down less or more, right now I see situation for them being stable and prices are going up in time ( Charizard, Rayquaza etc. obviously much faster than others ).
1st ed. original sets: some of Jungle/Fossil stuff is already selling for double/triple what they used to be couple years ago. Most popular sets to majority of people + rather poor card quality will keep things interesting.
If you have some certain wants I’d say just floor it and add at least couple in collection now, one or two months of waiting can make huge difference as you’ve already seen. 
I’ll be the devil’s advocate post. I honestly don’t know if the singles will continue to go up, or if they will decline. That said, high prices could technically be a mere two people investing heavily that old PSA cards will go up even higher. I think it is inevitable that as wotc boxes go up (they will) the PSA cards go up as well, but imo I don’t think PSA cards will go up proportionally. Those who are investing heavily in wotc psa might not get the returns they’re hoping for, and might even not see gains if only a select few are bidding excessively and winning at a premium today.
It remains to be seen but Batman, Superman etc are pushing 80 years old now and still massively popular so…
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True but in those years numerous writers, movie producers and game developers have been allowed to create their own interpretations. There’s a lot of different variations of these two. Not to mention the many crossovers with other franchises over the years. I guess it’s a matter of what the company does, hopefully they make the right decisions.
Two people driving the price up? Uhmm, not even close. My list of high end collectors have doubled as have my unique buyers. I’ve already had many sell me back their collections and now their jumping back in and paying up. They thought they were selling back to me cause they had peaked. Turned out they were wrong.
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Pokémon was such a phenomenon and came in with a big bang,
How could something so original ever die…?
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I have sold my collection twice so far once to pay off my car the second to add to a down payment for a home. Although a home > than my cards I can’t say I don’t miss my collection. That being said Pokémon had and has a ton going for it, it was original, it had controversy, banned from most if not all school (in the US) back in the day. I personally believe that if you were a kid or teenager in the 90s there was something about that era that we have a huge nostalgic attachment to it (maybe it was because the Internet, cell phones etc weren’t extremely common yet) we had more of a connection to each other and the things around us. Maybe I’m getting too deep in the psychological aspect of things. In the end of the day Pokémons backbone is evolution and because of that Pokémon can change its story on a whim and evolve with the times, that’s why it won’t go anywhere.
Almost sold my collection off for a third time, glad I didn’t. Thanks to everyone on here
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You hit the nail on the head; I was 11 years old during the Pokemon craze of 1998-1999, and it really was at that edge of the turning point before the rise of the internet and social media…as such, the nostalgia of that “time before the internet” is really strong among us who remember those years vividly as a kid.
Today, Pokemon continues to be popular because it has that insane appeal that’s backed by the millenial generation and now 20 years of “social acceptance,” if you will. I absolutely do not believe prices will ever go “down” on the 1st Editon/WOTC era cards, or the rarer collections like Gold Stars, but the way that TCPI is overdoing it (imo) with the S&M era’s ridiculous amount of secret rares may plateau the prices at a far lower range than in the past.
To put it in perspective, I have a friend I reconnected with recently who also can’t explain why he’s spending as much money as he is now in his late 20’s on Pokemon cards still, other than pure nostalgia…and really, I don’t see his/my generation slowing down to hold onto what we had as kids, meaning I expect prices of older cards to soar because there’s more of us with more money than sense getting our financial footing in place, and not enough supply… 
I didn’t literally mean I think only two people are driving the prices of the cards… I’m simply saying in the prime area where PSA pokemon is sold (ebay) it only takes two to raise an auction’s price. For example, OP mentioned the PWCC auctions. Many cards that sold in those auctions have gone for less when other sellers sell their copies. It’s understandable that they go for a little less being less reputable sellers, but when some go for a significant amount less it’s possible that a select few paid more than the market will pay. This isn’t a problem if the select few is more than the available copies, but if additional copies show up and those who paid the premium don’t continue buying more nor does anyone else have an interest in paying the most recent price then you may have a situation where people had just bid more aggressibly than they should have (If they are treating it as an investment, which mostly is what the thread is about if we’re talking about will prices rise or not)
“Wotc era kids have incomes now and are regaining interest” & “Older = scarcer” are both great points, but neither of those tell me I should be getting PSA 10 Clefairy over a WOTC sealed booster box. I’ve looked at old posts and heard just a few years ago some people bought legendary collection boxes for 300 that now go for 2500-3500. I believe WOTC boxes will double (or more) faster than PSA singles, but I may not have as much information as many of you here.
I don’t think you can go wrong with sealed boxes, why, diversification. If any of the cards increase in price so will the booster box if multiple go up in price well I think you get the point. Pokémon sealed and graded singles will always see incremental growth whether it’s to keep up with inflation or they are actually rising in true value, the only thing that can stop this is if a wearhouse full get discovered. I see the trend of Pokémon as a bunch of peaks and valleys with pretty much every valley after being higher than the previous so the graph over time trends upward. The point I was trying to make with nostalgia was if all of a sudden the people who were in it strictly for investment or diversifying their portfolios were to sell, prices would dip, but only shortly, cause the collectors who have an attachment will buy everything up. Long story short you can’t go wrong with sealed or graded singles I personally would do both if you could.